It is a year to the day that Telford mother Saroj Sharma was given the best possible Christmas present – a kidney from her friend and neighbour Dorothy Bond. The pair are pictured right.

And Mrs Sharma, who lives in Stirchley, today called for another volunteer to do the same as her great pal and donate one of their kidneys to Telford father of two Amit Chouhan. He risks facing the rest of his life on dialysis unless he is given a new organ.

Their cases are similar as both Mrs Sharma and Mr Chouhan have an Asian background – but that does not mean that a kidney has to be provided by someone from their family or even the same racial background.

“It has worked for me and it can work for anyone – all he needs is for the right person to come forward and have a blood test,” said Mrs Sharma.

“The last 12 months have been a bit of a journey for me. There were teething problems to start off with, but that is normal and it takes a bit of time for the body to adjust to having a new kidney.

“But the sense of freedom I have now is fantastic. All I need to do is take my tablets and I can take them anywhere. There’s been such a feeling of release and the relationship I now have with Dorothy is a bit deeper than a normal friendship.”

Mrs Bond said today that she has made a complete recovery from the operation and is now “absolutely fine”.

Mr Chouhan, who lives at The Rock, has spent nine months on the waiting list. He is pictured with his sons Jamie, two, and Kieran, four.

He said that one of the hardest parts of the illness was the extreme tiredness which prevented him from playing an active part in bringing up his two children.

“If I could have one wish this Christmas it would be able to watch my boys grow up and take an active part in their lives.

“A kidney transplant is the only thing that can make this possible.”

By Henry Carpenter